Greencastle High School, Third Ward Public School 

 Erected in 1877 at a cost of $26,000.  In 1918 the high school was transferred to the new building on Spring Street.  This building was named Martha Jane Ridpath School to honor the high school principal.  The large airy classrooms were used for the first six elementary grades until 1961, at which time it was discontinued.

 The first class graduated from Greencastle High School in 1880, and approximately 15,000 men and women have received diplomas in the past 124 years. Graduates have excelled in business, industry, education and agriculture as well as the arts and sciences. 

The first high school was located on the south side of Greencastle on Elm Street. When it closed as a high school in 1918, it became Martha J. Ridpath Elementary School, better known as Third Ward. The new high school on Spring Street near the downtown area opened in September 1918 and graduated its first class in 1919. The official dedication was on December 5, 1918. The new building housed grades 7- 12. The last class graduated from the Spring Street location in 1959, and the building became Greencastle Junior High to house grades 7 and 8.

The Junior High closed its doors at the end of the 1988 school year and sat vacant for a few years. The old high school has been renovated into high quality condos. It is interesting to note that several of the owner-tenants are former GHS students. The present high school opened its doors in 1959 and graduated its first class in 1960. It houses grades 9-12 and is located at 910 E. Washington Street in Greencastle.

The Greencastle School system has always been an innovator in education, being one of the first to offer a free education at the high school level, free transportation to and from school and an integrated school long before most Indiana schools considered such a measure. In 1934, the Greencastle School system became one of the first in the state to own its school buses.

The Ink Pot: The high school newspaper, The Ink Pot, first appeared in 1921 and was sponsored by Lela Walls.

The Minaret: The oldest yearbook we could find was published in 1917 and was called The Maroon. From 1918 to 1922, the yearbook was simply called The Annual. In 1923, the yearbook was named The Minaret. The dictionary says ‘A Minaret is a slender, lofty tower attached to a mosque and surrounded by one or more projecting balconies from which a summons to prayer is cried". Where did you come up with that one, Miss Walls?